Molly Picklum, certainly a favorite despite being on her back hand. Photo: WSL
The women’s CT has changed a lot in just the past few years. Caroline Marks is the grizzled vet of this bunch at 23 years old. She’s surfed eight heats in the WSL Finals (2023 and 2024) and came away with a world title for her efforts in the 2023 event. That year’s women’s field had two rookies named Caity Simmers and Molly Picklum. Picklum’s never won a heat in her two WSL Finals appearances, but she’ll have some help this time around with a yellow jersey that brings priority and a chance to nab her first world title if she can simply win her first heat.
Gabriela Bryan and Bettylou Sakura Johnson, meanwhile, are about to make their first appearances in the WSL Finals. Sakura Johnson arrived by winning two events in 2025 and surfing a large portion of her season against CT surfers who didn’t qualify for this final. Is that an advantage? We’ll find out if and when Cloudbreak wakes up.
If you’re curious what the top five surfers have done against each other throughout their careers, here’s a quick breakdown of their head-to-head CT records.
Bettylou Sakura Johnson
vs Caroline Marks: 5 wins, 3 losses
vs Caity Simmers: 1 win, no losses
vs Gabby Bryan: 1 win, 2 losses
vs Molly Picklum: 2 wins, 6 losses
Caroline Marks
vs Bettylou Sakura Johnson: 3 wins, 5 losses
vs Caity Simmers: 6 wins, 4 losses
vs Gabby Bryan: 3 wins, 1 loss
vs Molly Picklum: 1 win, 2 losses
Caity Simmers
vs Bettylou Sakura Johnson: no wins, 1 loss
vs Caroline Marks: 4 wins, 6 losses
vs Gabby Bryan: 4 wins, 3 losses
vs Molly Picklum: 6 wins, 2 losses
Gabby Bryan
vs Bettylou Sakura Johnson: 2 wins, 1 loss
vs Caroline Marks: 1 win, 3 losses
vs Caity Simmers: 3 wins, 4 losses
vs Molly Picklum: 4 wins, 1 loss
Molly Picklum
vs Bettylou Sakura Johnson: 6 wins, 2 losses
vs Caroline Marks: 2 wins, 1 loss
vs Caity Simmers: 2 wins, 6 losses
vs Gabby Bryan: 1 win, 4 losses
